SHFE Tin Contract Pulled Back in Morning Trading, but Persistently High Prices Continued to Suppress Spot Transactions [SMM Tin Midday Review]

Tin Midday Review, April 21, 2026

This morning, tin futures in and outside China fluctuated downward. The most-traded SHFE tin SN2605 contract weakened, closing at 391,880 yuan/mt in the morning session, down 0.31%. LME side, the pullback pace was relatively faster, with LME three-month tin temporarily quoted at $50,280/mt, down 0.68%.

Ex-China geopolitics, the two-week temporary ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran is about to expire on April 22. On the news front, the US unilaterally finalised the date for the second round of talks and publicly stated that it was not inclined to extend the ceasefire before reaching an agreement, while Iran maintained a relatively firm stance and has not yet agreed to participate in the meeting. As the period approaches, uncertainty over negotiation prospects increased, and risk-averse wait-and-see sentiment intensified. Domestic policy side, PBOC today announced the latest Loan Prime Rate (LPR), with the 1-year and 5-year-plus LPR maintained at 3% and 3.5%, respectively. This move was in line with prior market expectations, and its direct guidance on commodity futures was relatively neutral.

Spot market side, although futures showed small fluctuations downward today, from an overall trend perspective, the absolute price center of tin remains in a high range. Against this backdrop, the spot market trading pattern has not changed significantly. Downstream end-users, facing relatively high price levels, showed no notable release of purchase willingness and continued to mainly follow up on rigid demand to sustain basic factory production. Market inquiries and actual trading volume remained mediocre, suppliers adjusted quotes in line with the market, and both supply and demand sides maintained the previous stalemate and wait-and-see stance.

Overall, in the short term, futures trends will focus on the actual developments of ex-China peace talks and the subsequent evolution of strait navigation conditions, with attention needed on shifts in market sentiment after macro news materialises.